Bible Study - Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, April 1, 2025 and April 15, 2025

Reverend Michael Mwangi

Senior Pastor, Fedha Church, Kenya Assemblies of God 

a. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: 

Paul will, in wonderful detail, describe for us the mind of Jesus in the following verses. But here, before he describes the mind of Jesus, he tells us what we must do with the information.
He does not give all that is in the mind of Christ in these verses. He selects those qualities of our Lord which fit the needs of the Philippians at that moment.

It is all too easy for us to read the following description of Jesus and admire it from a distance. God wants us to be awed by it, but also to see it as something that we must enter into and imitate.

 Let this mind means that it is something that we have choice about.

i. Remember also that this mind is something granted to us by God. 

1 Corinthians 2:16 says that we have the mind of Christ. But let this mind shows us that it is also something we must choose to walk in. You have to let it be so.
Jesus was in the form of God.
Who, being in the form of God.

a. In the form of God: 

This describes Jesus’ pre-incarnate existence. We must remind ourselves that Jesus did not begin His existence in the manger at Bethlehem, but is eternal God.

Being: This is from the ancient Greek verb huparchein, which “describes that which a man is in his very essence and which cannot be changed. It describes that part of a man which, in any circumstances, remains the same.” (Barclay)

Our Lord’s possession of the divine essence did not cease to be a fact when He came to earth to assume human form.

Form: This translates the ancient Greek word morphe. It “always signifies a form which truly and fully expresses the being which underlies it… the words mean ‘the being on an equality with God.

ii. “‘God’ has a form, and ‘Jesus Christ’ exists in this form of God.” (Lenski)
Colossians 1
15. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
iii. Wuest explains that the ancient Greek word translated form is very difficult to translate. When we use the word form, we think of the shape of something; but the ancient Greek word had none of that idea. It is more the idea of a mode or an essence; it is the essential nature of God, without implying a physical shape or image. “Thus the Greek word for ‘form’ refers to that outward expression which a person gives of his inmost nature

Exodus 20

4. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
 

Jesus did not cling to the privileges of deity.

Did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
a. Did not consider it robbery: The ancient Greek in this phrase has the idea of something being grasped or clung to. Jesus did not cling to the prerogatives or privileges of deity.
. To be equal with God: It wasn’t that Jesus was trying to achieve equality with the Father. He had it, and chose not to cling to it. Jesus’ divine nature was not something He had to seek for or acquire, but it was His already.

Jesus was willing to let go of some of the prerogatives of deity to become a man.
But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

But made Himself of no reputation: The more common (and well-known) translation of this is that He emptied Himself. From the ancient Greek word emptied (kenosis) came the idea that Jesus’ incarnation was essentially a self-emptying.

i. We must carefully think about what Jesus emptied Himself of. Paul will tell us plainly in the following verses, but we must take care that we do not think that Jesus emptied Himself of His deity in any way.

ii. Yet Jesus did not (and could not) become “less God” in the incarnation. No deity was subtracted (though Jesus did renounce some of the privileges of deity); rather humanity was added to His nature.

iii. “During his humiliation, as God and equal with the Father, was no encroachment on the Divine prerogative; for, as he had an equality of nature, he had an equality of rights.” (Clarke)

iv. “Even as a king, by laying aside the tokens of his royalty, and putting on the habit of a merchant, when all the while he ceaseth not to be a king, or the highest in his own dominions.” (Poole)
Taking the form of a bondservant: This describes how Jesus emptied Himself. Though he took the form of a bondservant, Jesus did not empty Himself of His deity, or of any of His attributes, or of His equality with God. He emptied Himself into the form of a bondservant, not merely the form of a man.

i. Taking (the ancient Greek word labon) does not imply an exchange, but an addition.
c. Coming in the likeness of men: This further describes how Jesus emptied Himself. We can think of someone who is a servant, but not in the likeness of men. Angels are servants, but not in the likeness of men. In fairy tales, Aladdin’s genie was a servant, but not in the likeness of men.

i. The word for likeness here may refer to merely the outward form of something. While Jesus did have the outward form of humanity, the outward form reflected His true humanity, which was added to His deity.
ii. “It was a likeness, but a real likeness, no mere phantom humanity as the Docetic Gnostics held.” (Robertson)

The extent of Jesus’ self-emptying

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

a. He humbled Himself and became obedient: Jesus humbled Himself when He became obedient. This was something that Jesus could only experience by coming down from the throne of heaven and becoming a man. When God sits enthroned in heaven’s glory, there is no one He obeys. Jesus had to leave heaven’s glory and be found in appearance as a man in order to become obedient.

i. One key to Jesus’ obedience on earth was the endurance of suffering. This again was something He could only learn by experience after the incarnation. As it is written: though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8).
ii. Indeed, He humbled Himself.

• He was humble in that he took the form of a man, and not a more glorious creature like an angel.
• He was humble in that He was born into an obscure, oppressed place.
• He was humble in that He was born into poverty among a despised people.
• He was humble in that He was born as a child instead of appearing as a man.
• He was humble in submitting to the obedience appropriate to a child in a household.
• He was humble in learning and practicing a trade – and a humble trade of a builder.
• He was humble in the long wait until He launched out into public ministry.
• He was humble in the companions and disciples He chose.
• He was humble in the audience He appealed to and the way He taught.
• He was humble in the temptations He allowed and endured.
• He was humble in the weakness, hunger, thirst, and tiredness He endured.
• He was humble in His total obedience to His Heavenly Father.
• He was humble in His submission to the Holy Spirit.
• He was humble in choosing and submitting to the death of the cross.
• He was humble in the agony of His death.
• He was humble in the shame, mocking, and public humiliation of His death.
• He was humble in enduring the spiritual agony of His sacrifice on the cross.

iii. We can imagine that it was possible for the Son of God to become man and pay for the sins of the world without this great humiliation. He might have added the humanity of a 33-year old man to his deity. He might have appeared before man only in His transfigured glory, and taught men what they needed to hear from Him. He might have suffered for the sins of man in a hidden place of the earth far from the eyes of man, or on the dark side of the moon for that matter. Yet He did not; He humbled Himself, and did it for the surpassing greatness of our salvation and His work for us.

b. To the point of death, even the death of the cross: This states the extent of Jesus’ humility and obedience.

i. Crucifixion was such a shameful death that it was not permitted for Roman citizens (such as the people of Philippi). A victim of crucifixion was considered by the Jews to be particularly cursed by God (Deuteronomy 21:23 and Galatians 3:13).

ii. Robertson called the death of the cross “The bottom rung in the ladder from the Throne of God. Jesus came all the way down to the most despised death of all, a condemned criminal on the accursed cross.”

iii. Even the death of the cross shows that there is no limit to what God will do to demonstrate His love and saving power to man; this was and forever will be the ultimate. “What must sin have been in the sight of God, when it required such abasement in Jesus Christ to make an atonement for it, and undo its influence and malignity!” (Clarke)

iv. “The lower he stoops to save us, the higher we ought to lift him in our adoring reverence. Blessed be his name, he stoops, and stoops, and stoops, and, when he reaches our level, and becomes man, he still stoops, and stoops, and stoops lower and deeper yet
Even the death of the cross: All of this was a great display of the power of Jesus. Remember that because of Paul’s past experience among the Philippians, they were tempted to think of God’s power as being expressed only in exaltation and deliverance and not in terms of glorifying God through humble service and endurance.

i. In this, Paul reminded the Philippians that his current place of humble circumstances (his Roman imprisonment) could still show forth the glory and power of God, even as Jesus did in His humility.